Tone-moderator for talking-machines.



G. E. BRIGHTSON. TONE MODERATOR FOR TALKING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 17. I914.

Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

instrument. The

v UNITED srrA'rE-s PATENT OFFICE.-

en'ones Ii. iamen rson, or OYSTER BAY, 'NEW'YORK, assrenen ro-sononn rnonoi emrri conroimrron, A coaromrrron or NEW YORK.

'roNE-iironmm'ron To al'l whom it may concern:

1 Be it known that I, GEORGE and resident of Oyster Bay; in the county of Queens and State of New York, have in-' vented certain new and. useful Improve.- ments in Tone-Moderators for Talking-Ma chines, of which the following is a specification. a This invention relates intone-moderators for talking-machines, and has for its object to provide an improved device which may be conveniently operated, and which' serves" to eliminate the objectionable feature of.

phonographs known as scratch. The device is so arranged that the passage of the sound is not impeded so as to disadvantageously influence the tone produced by the objects and will be more fully described hereinafter and fi 'nally pointed 1 out in the claims.

In the accompanying is a front-view ofthe part 'ofthrough which drawing, Figure the leader the sound. passes, with the improved tone-moderator applied thereto,

arranged within the phonograph-case and operated from the outside a vertical section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, Fig, 3 is a view of the opposite side of'the device from that shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a section taken'on line 22 of Fig. 1, but

with the valve in a different position from that shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 5 is a similar section with the valvein another position,"

tion with the valve in r Fig. 6 is a similar se still another position, Fig. 7 is a plan View of the valve, removed from its casing, Fig 8'is a plan of a modified form of valve, Figs. 9 and 10 are respectively a front-view and a smaller scale than of another form of valve, in its houslng, and Figs. 11 and .12

arer'espectively a front-view and a planview of another-form of the invention.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout all the figures of the drawing.

Referring to the ticularly to Figs. 1 to 6, the leader 15 shown in the drawing corresponds to that portion of the soundpassage which is between the horn. and the sound-producing means.

' Suitably secured to the sound-passage 15 is 7 EL Bmcn'rson, a citizen of the-United States of America,

invention carries out these thereof, Fig. 2 is drawing, and more parthereby For. TALKING-MACHINES. i

Patented Jan. 11,1916.

' Application filed February 17, 1914. Serial No. 819,275.

a circular housihg 16, which has in its circumference a slot lTfor the handle19, wh ch is used to manipulate the valve of the device. The housing is arranged in the phonographcase 10, and the handle 19 protrudes therefrom, so, as to be readily operated at the outside of the phonograph-case 10. '1 In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the valve'ls' indicated by 18 and is bent arcuate, to correspond to tliecircular shape I i of the housing 16. For the purpose of accommodatlng the valve 18, the housing consists of two concentric walls 8 and 9, be I:

tween which the valye 18 is guided. These concentric walls have openings 51, 52, at the connections of the leader, so that-the leader has an entirely open passage at 51 corresponding to its cross-section, and has another completely free and open passage at 52 corresponding to its cross-section at that p o1nt. The valve 181s provided with a plurallty of circular openings, indicated by 25, 26, 27 and 28, the opening 28 being the. v

j largest of the sends and having an area equal to the cross-section of the leader 15, so that when the-opening 28 is in registration with the leader 15,;then the tone can pass out from the lower portion of the leader to the upper portion thereof unimpeded and uninfiuenced by any corresponds to that where desired, and would correspond also obstruction. j This condition the loudest tone is to that Y condition of the leader when no moderator f -0I' modulator is used. The opening 27 has an area smaller than the opening 28, and when this opening is placed in registration with the leader 15 a less, amount of volume ofsound is permitted to pass, so that the tone ismodulated and of less-force than that which would' pass through when the opening 28" is in registration. Similarly, the opening 26 is smaller than the opening 27, and the opening 25 is the smallest of all. Thus, in Fig. 2,. the smallest opening 25 is shown in the sound-passage, and hence a dimini'shed tone-volume is permitted topass.

' through. It will be noted that this opening 25 is in substantially axial position to the leader or tube 15, and this is important, as the sound may flow freely through the opening 25 without being injuriously affected. The valve is made of felt, and thereby takes up scratch. The difi'erent openings correspond to different volumes of sound. In order to indicate which opening gradually increased in force or gradually is in registration with the sound-passage, decreased, accordlng to the dlrectlon of thecasing 16'is provided at its exterior with movement. v

indicator-markings, l, 2, 3 and 4, as shown In Figs. 9 and 10, the openings 41, 42, 43,

'in F ig. -1, so that the slide 20 carrying the 44, are arranged in a circle and cut out of a handle, may-be readily brought into alineflat disk-shaped block 47 of felt. A housing ment with these indications, and thereby 45 is'provided through WlllCll the handle 46 definite steps in the gradation of the tone protrudes. By operation of the handle, one established. opening after another is brought lnto regis- In 'Fig. 4 is shown the valve with the tration with thesound-passage 15 indicated opening 25 about to be closed, and the openin dotted lines 15 in Fig. 10.

v ing 26 about to be opened, that is, about to i In place of the successive openings, a sin be brought in the path of the sound. It will gle elongated curved o pening of gradually be noticed that as the opening 25 gradually increasing breadth, may be employed, as

decreases in size, the opening 26 gradually indicated in dotted lines 48 in Fig. 10.

increases, so that at all times during the The modulation of the tone and exclusion opening and closing of the openings 25 and of irregular sounds is caused by reason of 26, or any other two openings, there is open the felt snugly fitting and closing the space gradually varying in amount, in grooves of its guideway and by reason of either increasing or decreasing proportlon, th f t th t th change i area f Openin the line of the sound-passage, so that the ing, when shifting the valve, is always gradvariation from one volume to another W11 ual, and by reason of this characteristic feanot be markled, but will be gradually reached, ture of the invention, the tone may be moduand not in any manner abruptly attai edlated Without abrupt changes therein. The Val With the p ning e n The tone-moderator is readily manipu is composed of a block of felt, and this i lated from the exterior of the sound-pasa. very important consideration, as 1t 1 sage, and in practice it is customary to ar found that felt softly and snuglvfi s a d range the handleat the exterior of the wall closes the grooves of the guideway in which 10 f th h g h- B thi means it slides against the passage of sou the moderator may be manipulated from the 5 lSlIIOUgl] Sitld grooves around the edges 0f exterior of the phonograph, so that, the modthe valve, and has avery pleasing efieet 011 erator may be operated and used without .the tone when it is used to modulate the opening the top .12 composed of a block of felt, having openconduit of a talking V ings 31, 32, 33 and 34, and in which the dlstween the end thereof which 7 so that when advancing the valve the total slot cut through the open area increases gradually, and when throughout the circu one opening is moved away and its place broader than said conduit an .other end-portion 54 is of substantially the conduit of a talking I or cover of the case or afsame, It is found, for instance, that where 'fecting in a y manner the operation of the old records are used, or where the needlev is part not as eficient as it was in the beginning of Several embodi nt f th its use and thereby certain more or less unhave been described, but oh musical notesor scratching are produced, made therein without depar the felt absorbs to a largeextent these obspirit of the invent jectionable noises and causes the tone whlch pended claims. is produced to be smooth and agreeable. I claim:- I

In'Figs. ll'and l2'is shown a flat valve 1. Acombination of a invention anges may be ting from the ion as defined in the ap- 11 intermediate sound machine provided beconnects with tance between the openings successlvely dethe sound box and the end thereof which 1m creases as the size of the openings increases, connects with the horn with a transverse wall of said conduit inference thereof, a closing decreases gradually, so that .no' valve easlng extending laterally from said abrupt changes in the tone take place when conduit and provided with a d registering taken by another opening. The valve is with the slot thereof, and a block offelt guided in a flat housing 39 and operated by constituting a valve and slidable in said a handle 40 at one end of the valve. guideway and softly and snugly fitting and In Fig. 8 the valve 30 is composed of a closing the grooves thereo against the pas- 126 block of felt, and has a single opening 35, sage of sound through said grooves around one end-portion 53 of which has an opening the valve, and operative to cover or vary substantially the same width-as the diameter the sound passage of said conduit. of opening 31 shown in Fig. 7, while the 2. A combination of an intermediate sound same width as the diameter of the opening tween the end thereof 34 of Fig. 7. That part of the opening 35 sound box and the end between the ends 53 and 54 is graduated in with the horn with a width from the end 53 to the end 54, so through the wall of sa' that when the valve is moved thesound is the circumference the vhich connects with the reef, a valve casing ex- 180 guideway machine provided bevided with tending laterally from said conduit and proa guideway broader than said conduit and registering with the slot thereof, and a block of felt constituting a valve and slidable in said guideway and softly and snugly fitting and closing the grooves thereof against the passage of sound through said grooves around the valve, and provided with a series of openings of different areas adapted to vary the sound passage of said conduit.

3. A combination of an intermediate sound conduit of a talking machine provided between the end thereof which connects with the sound boxand the end thereof which connects with the horn with an arc-shaped transverse slot cut through the wall of said conduit throughout the circumference thereof, a valve casing in the form of a ring hat ing a circumferential slot, extending laterally from said conduit and provided with an arc-shaped guideway broader than said con- .duit and registering with the slot thereof,

' cumferential slot.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE E. BRIGHTSON.

Witnesses:

G. Lown, F. Hoes. 

